Jesus steps down from his mountaintop experience of glory into the chaos of

scribes, crowd, demonic oppression, and most importantly, the other

disciples’ failure to represent Him in their battle with evil. They have

not remembered what they have been taught. They have not been able to

manage without him, and it shows us (and it showed Jesus) quite how far

they still have to go, in their journey as His disciples. 

Commentators call this section of Mark’s gospel ‘a study of discipleship,'

and as we continue to follow Him in our response to great need in our city,

this passage could not be more timely. In it, we see Jesus' call be

undermined as ours will always be too; we see Jesus' authentic frustration

about that, and yet His doubling-down in commitment to His mission; and we

see how it is that He keeps going to fulfill what He has been called to.

For any of us asking ‘where do we go from here,’ let’s look again at Jesus'

example, and let Him remind us what it looks like to follow Him.

By Hannah Flint